Green Smoothies

Thanks to this post on Sarah’s blog, I am completely and hopelessly obsessed with green smoothies. I have had a full blenderful every day this week, and most days I have to hold myself back from making another.(Why do I stop myself? I don’t know. They’re totally good for you, so what’s the problem?) I find it nearly impossible to get the recommended amount of fruits and veggies–especially veggies–every day, but these make it easy peasy.

The wonderful thing about smoothies is that you can experiment to your heart’s content with any combination of fruits and greens (the greens are what make the smoothies, um, green). So far I believe the two keys to making green smoothies drinkable are (1) use enough fruit and/or honey to make them sweet and (2) blend the living daylights out of them. I can see where some would think a third key would be to use enough frozen fruit or add enough ice to keep the smoothie cold.

The basic idea:

• 2-4 cups fresh or frozen fruit (strawberries, bananas, kiwis, peaches, mangoes, pears, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc.)
• 1-2 cups water, depending on what consistency you like
• 1-2 tablespoons honey

Blend the fruit, water, and honey.

• 2-4 cups fresh greens (spinach, kale, collard greens, etc.)

Add a handful of greens at a time and blend well between each one.

So far my favorite combination is this:

• 1 pear (take the stem off and cut into pieces; I didn’t even know pears had a core–it blends well)
• 2 kiwis (I left the skin on; you can peel them if you like)
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 stems kale (use just the leafy part, not the hard stem)
• 3 big handfuls spinach